Madrid storms past Khimki

EuroLeague

13 january 2018

Real Madrid dominated from the opening tip to avenge an earlier home loss by rocking Khimki Moscow Region by 78-95 on Friday.

The win was Madrid's sixth in a row, the longest streak in the EuroLeague this season, and lifted its record to 11-6, good enough to maintain its share of fourth place. Khimki dropped to 9-8 to share seventh. A 0-16 second-quarter run by the visitors took their double-digit lead as high as 23 before halftime, after which Khimki was unable to challenge for the victory. Rudy Fernandez hit 5 three-pointers in a seven-minute span of the third and fourth quarters to lead the winners with 16 points. Fabien Causeur and Walter Tavares followed with 11 each, while Luka Doncic and Jaycee Carroll scored 10 apiece for Madrid, which shot 14 of 25 from the arc as a team. EuroLeague top scorer Alexey Shved had 23 points for Khimki, but missed more shots than he made and committed 5 turnovers. Tyler Honeycutt added 17 points and Malcolm Thomas 10, but Khimki suffered from being outrebounded by 27-40.

Causeur's second-chance jumper and a triple by Thomas opened the scoring. Tavares leaned in for a slam and then kicked out to Trey Thompkins for three. Facundo Campazzo fooled the Khimki defense for a layup before Shved connected on a triple at 6-9. Campazzo fed Tavares for a dunk and hit a second-chance triple. Charles Jenkins and Causeur traded triples before James Anderson and Shved scored to make it 13-17. Causeur fed Tavares for an alley-oop dunk and Thompkins hit from the arc for Madrid's first double-digit lead, 13-23. Stefan Markovic then found Shved for a fastbreak layup but Causeur finished his own three-point play as Madrid led 17-26 after 10 minutes. Anthony Gill got Khimki within 22-27 on a bucket and 4 free throws to start the second quarter, but that was a mirage. Carroll and Taylor blasted triples for Madrid, forcing a Khimki timeout at 22-33. Doncic got his first basket before Jeffery Taylor and Felipe Reyes lifted the difference to 19 points, 22-41. Shved's 2 missed free throws let Doncic extend Madrid's run to 16-0 before Andrey Zubkov downed a triple for the hosts. Doncic's free throw then made it a 20-point game, 25-45. Carroll scored twice more with relative ease and Doncic hit free throws as Madrid coasted into halftime ahead 31-51.

Thomas downed a triple and detonated an alley-oop dunk to charge up the hosts after the break. A big block by Tavares sent Causeur ahead for a fastbreak layup-plus-free throw, restoring Madrid's 20-point lead. Shved dropped a pair of triples to lower the difference, but Tavares had 4 points in a quick 0-8 run to make it 42-64. A triple by Fernandez reestablished a 23-point lead at 44-67. Shved had another triple in him, but it only got Khimki to within 49-67 after 30 minutes. Gill, Thomas and Shved scored around a pair of three-pointers from Fernandez as Madrid maintained a 54-73 edge early in the fourth. Fernandez kept the triples coming with his fourth and fifth to make it 59-84 and sentence the game for good with more than 4 minutes left.Source http://www.euroleague.net/m...